Las Albor: The Dawn
by FFFX
Summary: Arrancar and Nukenin meet for the first time. They don't exactly mix well. Rated for language. Chapter 6: The Square Snake- When you know nothing about something, even the most ridiculous possibilities must be considered.
1. Invaders

Las Albor: The Dawn

Chapter 1: Invaders

Szayel Aporro Granz was always the inquisitive scientist. Needless to say, when some no name arrancar approached him claiming to have accidentally opened a Garganta (Black Cavity, Spanish: Throat) to a new world by using the technique near the very fringe of Hueco Mundo, he was very eager to study it.

Regardless, he was not above killing the poor fool and taking credit for the discovery.

Aizen-sama was most pleased with this discovery of course, and authorized Szayel to research this new world, except he also ordered that the scientist must bring another Espada of his choice with him, just to be safe. This was why the Octava Espada was knocking on the door to the room labeled with a large number five.

After waiting a few minutes the door opened and an irritated and scowling Nnoitra stood naked holding a towel around his waist. "What do you want Szayel? As you can see I was bathing."

"Yes, well Aizen-sama has given me a mission, since you and I have a history together, a thought you might want in. I have to bring somebody, so I'd rather bring someone I can get along with." Szayel explained coolly, as though the eye-patch wearing Espada's free hand was not twitching in anticipation to strangle him.

"Do I have a choice?" He growled.

"Not really. You can bring Tesla if you wish, who knows what we'll find where we're going." He waved goodbye and began walking down the hall. "We leave in a few hours, I'll give you time to finish... whatever you need to do before we leave."

Once the sakura-haired scientist was out of earshot Nnoitra huffed. "Ass." He went back into his room and shut the door.

--

"We've been walking for hours." Nnoitra growled out in annoyance. They were in the middle of nowhere, nothing for miles and miles. White desert sand everywhere and even Las Noches was beginning to look small in the distance. "Where the hell are we going anyway?"

Tesla let his good eye wander to the two round Arrancar accompanying them. Lumina and Verona are Szayel's Fraccion, and hadn't protested a word about the walk the entire time. Szayel himself was barely contained in his excitement. "Not to be rude, but where are we going?"

Nnoitra looked at his servant. "It's okay; you can be rude to Szayel."

The pink haired Arrancar smiled. "We are going to the outer limits of Hueco Mundo."

Nnoitra's eye widened considerably. Tsela cringed. "The outer limits?" Nnoitra asked angrily. "Not that I'm scared but I heard about some weird shit around there. Like giant mask-less Hollows as strong as Vasto Lorde. Granted we could take em, of course..."

Szayel waved him off. "Oh please, those are just rumors. The only real danger that exists on the outer limit is the unstable ground. It's littered with holes that open and close at random, holes that pour spirit particles into the Dangai. Sometimes they can open under footfall." He continued his smile. "Not that we have to worry about falling into the Dangai, a simple Garganta can remedy that."

"Yeah, sure... you make it sound simple." Nnoitra rolled his eye. "Now that the where's cleared up; got me a why?"

"We're going to open a Garganta from the outer limit. This Garganta should take us to a new world, and in that world we will study and examine the specimens there, maybe even take samples." Szayel seemed a little too excited.

"So that's why you brought me? Because it might be dangerous, no telling what we'll find huh?" He gave a very wide smile. "Sounds fun, glad I could come."

--

"Hurry up you stupid fat-ass shits!" Nnoitra yelled as he used Sonido (Transfer Effects, Spanish: Sound) to travel quickly across the collapsing desert. Szayel was keeping pace decently well, as Tesla was only a step behind, but Lumina and Verona were falling behind, and the ground was collapsing beneath every footfall.

"Nnoitra! Do something! They're our emergency provisions!" Szayel yelled, making it sound normal.

"So that's why you brought the fat-asses!" He checked Tesla and found him to be right behind him. "Szayel, open a Garganta here! I think we're far enough!" He slid to a stop and turned around just as the two Fraccion fell in a larger than normal hole. He cursed to himself and threw his enormous Zanpakuto after them. "Grab on!" He held the chain on the end lightly and gave it a powerful yank, pulling it out of the hole with two screaming ball-shaped Arrancar holding on to the blunt side of the outer crescent for dear life.

They and the sword flew right into the Garganta as Tesla and Szayel jumped in as well, Nnoitra jumped in just as the ground collapsed beneath his feet, the area beneath the Garganta was a giant hole to the Dangai. "Too damn close!" He looked Szayel in the eye. "Well? Did we make it?"

"Yes actually." He smiled and pointed to the end of the tunnel. "I think we did."

Nnoitra picked up his Zanpakuto from the ground the two morons were laying on panting. "Then let's go." He ran for the end of the tunnel, his eye wide in anticipation and his mouth smiling.

"Nnoitra, careful..." Szayel's words went unheeded and Nnoitra burst forth from the Garganta, only to vanish.

"Nnoitra-sama!" Tesla ran to the edge of the Garganta and saw a crash on the ground roughly a hundred meters below them. "The Garganta's really high... I don't think we can fly in this world."

Szayel looked out as well. "It would appear so... Nnoitra just fell that whole way, didn't he?" He whistled and one of his two lackeys ran up to him.

"Yes Szayel-sama?!" Tesla hazarded a guess that it was Lumina but could really never tell.

"Break my fall for me." Tesla watched as the round Arrancar saluted and jumped from the Garganta, Szayel shortly after.

Tesla stood there and looked at the other one. "Well? Are you going to break my fall?"

"Do you even look like Szayel-sama?" She replied curtly and jumped out of the Garganta. "I'm coming Szayel-sama!"

"Idiot." Tesla jumped after him. She'd break his father weather he wanted to or not.

--

Nnoitra had tried flying, but it didn't work here for some reason. So he swore to himself as he crashed in an undignified heap in a crater in the forest, his Zanpakuto landing nearly, vertical, and imbedding nearly halfway in the ground. He cursed and began standing, until a large ball crashed on top of him, and he groaned his curses when something else crashed into the ball, and he yelled out in pain. "Son of a fucking bitch!"

"Oh! Sorry Nnoitra, I thought you would have moved." Szayel jumped off of Lumina and just as the round Arrancar tried to stand itself, another round Arrancar landed on top of him and Nnoitra yelled in pain. Then Tesla landed on that ball, Nnoitra was effectively forced completely into the ground under the force of all the impacts built up.

Tesla didn't even know he contributed to Nnoitra-sama's pain, he jumped off of the grumpy and angry Arrancar anyway, confident as Verona had unwillingly cushioned his fall. "Thank you Verona-san." He dusted himself off and looked at Szayel, who was holding his hand over his mouth, barely containing his laughter. "Is there something funny, Szayel-sama?"

Suddenly the two Arrancar went flying out of the crater and a very angry a dirty Nnoitra stood there panting. "What the shit?! Did all of you bastards land on me?!"

Tesla was on his knees in a second kissing the dirt. "I'm so sorry Nnoitra-sama! I had no idea you were under there!"

He was kicked in the jaw by his angry superior anyway. Regardless, Nnoitra paid him little mind. "Szayel! You bastard! I blame you!"

"What? I'm sorry? Didn't you ever hear to look before you leap?" Szayel chuckled at his joke. "Obviously not."

The Octava Espada grew serious as he swiftly drew his sword to block the massive double-crescent that was bearing down on him. He was only number eight; he stood no chance against Nnoitra. "Alright, alright, I get it." He nervously grit his teeth as his feet broke into the ground. "It wasn't completely my fault."

Nnoitra lifted his Zanpakuto and scoffed. "Whatever. I don't have time to deal with you anyway; you're needed to get us back."

--

Uchiha Itachi was bewildered. After hearing the crash and arriving near the site, he went into hiding with his partner, observing the scene. What he saw was five colorless glowing shapes, roughly human shaped, sans the two round ones. He heard nothing, even as he watched them attack each other. "Kisame, can you see anything?"

"Yeah, three guys and two round dudes. They're wearing some weird clothes and the guy that's the most aggressive seems to be attacking them. He's got some seriously crazy weapon, like two big crescent blades with their backs together. I'm getting this seriously powerful vibes off em, like a pressure that's trying to force me to my knees, never felt anything like it." Itachi saw the sweat coming off his partner's forehead from under his now saturated headband.

"I see... very strange. For once, your eyes are better. We are to capture these things, invisible people with great power and no chakra." Itachi explained. He had already tried deactivating his Sharingan (Copy Wheel Eyes), but that only made them disappear completely, and it made the forest quite blurry.

"Let me try talking to them first Itachi-san. They speak our language." Kisame gave his partner a wide sharky grin. The Sharingan user merely nodded in consent. If they could avoid conflict with enemies he could barely see then it would probably be for the best.

--

"Oi! You five!" The five Arrancar turned to the intruder, a blue skinned man, tall, with a wide grin filled with sharp teeth. This man's hair was an even darker blue, and his clothes were mostly a large black cloak with red clouds designed on it.

"The fuck are you supposed to be?" Nnoitra asked, making careful note of the bundle that had a sword hilt on it strapped over this man's back. Actually, calling him a man wouldn't be fair, he was far closer to a freak of nature. He seemed like he was just as much fish as he was human.

"I'm Hoshigaki Kisame, and I'm curious about you guys. Falling from the sky, and being invisible to my friend. I'd like an explanation." Kisame wasn't trying to pick a fight just yet, and was holding back his killing intent, not that they seemed to notice it at all.

Nnoitra huffed. "How can you even see us?" He stood his weapon up in the ground and leaned it, totally lax, while Kisame had his guard up completely.

Szayel just smiled. "There's no reason for us to answer your question. I'd have preferred to explore a little more before taking a sample, but you'll do nicely. I'm curious as to how you can see us without even a shred of Reiryoku (Spiritual Power)."

Kisame's smile faltered. "So... what? You gonna dissect me or somethin? I'm not stupid. You'll have to kill me first." He grabbed hold of his weapon's hilt but Nnoitra's large weapon passed through his body, it wasn't even the sharp part, just the blunted part between the two crescents, but it cut through Kisame like a hot knife through butter. The shark-nin's eyes were wide at how fast that attack was before he melted into water.

Nnoitra's eyes went wide as it was his turn to block, a surprise attack from the bushes, Kisame lunged at him with his wrapped weapon held in one hand and it collided with Nnoitra's blade with a crash, Nnoitra felt himself sink an inch into the ground from the impact. One handed?! What was this guy? His eye wandered as he caught a glimpse of a black and red blur, the guy's partner hurled six knives at him while he was busy guarding, but Tesla appeared in their path with the static screech of Sonido and batted them all away with his bade hands.

However, Tesla made eye contact with the new intruder. He had red eyes with three marks in each, and those marks were spinning. His eye grew wide as his body began to writhe in agony and he fell to the ground, watching his own body turn to dust. This power that that black haired intruder had, it was very, very great.

Itachi merely smirked. They may not have chakra, but the Sharingan still worked somehow. Even more curious was as soon as he made eye contact with the one that blocked him, he could see them all. The one that blocked him, the one with the large weapon struggling against Kisame's blade, the two round ones yelling 'Tesla-san!' and... there was supposed to be one more.

Itachi only flinched as a hand burst from his chest, along with a fair amount of blood. "Sorry about the whole killing you from behind thing, but I couldn't help but speculate that your eyes are dangerous." The sakura-haired Arrancar smirked, until Itachi exploded into a cloud of smoke and was replaced by a log, in which Szayel's arm was now lodged into.

Then there was a knife to his neck. "Sorry about the whole killing you thing, but I couldn't help but notice that you are weak." Szayel's eyes grew wide as he felt the killing intent. He couldn't have felt it until now for some reason, but it was similar to Reiatsu (Spiritual Pressure). No... It was Reiatsu, masked by something else, something that made his spiritual senses scream 'disgusting'.

Meanwhile, Nnoitra continued to battle with Kisame's attack, trying to push the shark-nin back. Instead, Kisame smirked and grabbed hold of his blade with his other hand as well, then lifted and smashed back down. Nnoitra was shocked beyond all reason as he was sent crashing to the ground from the impact; he just couldn't keep his footing under that amount of force. "How?" He gasped.

Kisame's weapon was pointed at his neck now. "Hey, don't be all pissy. You're the one that challenged one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū, the Seven Mist Swordmen. You're lucky to have a head on your shoulders." Kisame chuckled.

Suddenly Nnoitra understood and it hit him like a ton of bricks. "That sword... that sword is a Zanpakuto!"


	2. To the Victor

Las Albor: The Dawn

Chapter 2: To the Victor

A Zanpakuto, a Soul Slayer, a Soul Cutting Sword, however the hell you wanted to translate the word it was out of place in this new world without Reiryoku. Nnoitra had managed to separate himself from the shark man, and engaged in a few more clashes before realizing that his opponent had such physical might that he could easily unbalance him when both hands were on that wrapped up sword of his.

"You're not bad for some stupid human with no Reiryoku! What's your name?" Nnoitra asked.

"Hoshigaki Kisame, of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū." Kisame grinned widely and readied himself to block another attack from his opponent. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you're some kind of ghost."

"Huh? Maybe... don't care about stuff like that. I guess, yeah I'm a ghost by your definition, but I'm more alive than you'll ever be." He grinned back. "My name is Nnoitra Jiruga, the Quinta Espada!"

Kisame frowned. "Quinta? Espada? That some kind of title? Your name's pretty weird too... where you from anyway?"

Nnoitra rammed his weapon into the ground. "I'm from Hueco Mundo, this delightful desert of a demi-plane outside the boundaries of the living world. It's a place not quite heaven, and not quite hell, but to me it's paradise." He frowned as well. "Quinta Espada... it means The Fifth of Ten Swords, Jutachi no Go. By rank it places me as the fifth strongest among the Espada, but in reality I'm the strongest... they just need to let me prove it." He smirked.

"I see..." Kisame chuckled. "Quite full of yourself, huh? Now, since we're bein civil mind telling me what a Zanpakuto is?"

Nnoitra's smirk grew. "A Zanpakuto? Why it's a sword, your sword is one, my sword is one..." He stuck out his tongue, showing off the number five tattooed on it. "But you should be more worried about what a Cero (Hollow Flash, Spanish: Zero) is!" A red blast of light and energy shot from his tongue at the unsuspecting Akatsuki-nin.

Kisame reflexively brought his sword up to block, the blast collided with his weapon full force, disintegrating the wrappings around the blade but going no farther. Kisame watched with a smirk as his blue scaly sword squirmed as it effortlessly devoured the blast of red energy. Nnoitra stood there in a renewed state of shock. "Nice attack... quite powerful. Too bad my sword, Samehada, eats Chakra... but that wasn't Chakra was it? It was that Reiryoku stuff you mentioned. Samehada likes it!" He charged again.

Nnoitra watched the blue scaly blade and knew with building dread that the sword was already in its Shikai state. _Its power is to devour Reiryoku... and Chakra whatever the fuck that is._ Nnoitra blocked with his Zanpakuto again, cringing as it was pressed to his body by Kisame's insane strength. Then he saw the blue scales touch his shoulder harmlessly. "Hah! You can't cut me with a sword that doesn't even have an edge! What a joke!"

Kisame chuckled. "Samehada doesn't cut." Nnoitra watched as the blue scales rippled and a feeling of danger hit him as the sword was given a violent tug by Kisame, the scales had opened out and tore into Nnoitra's left shoulder. "It shaves."

Nnoitra screamed. "Fuck!" He leapt back again not bothering to clutch his wounded shoulder. _My Hierro (Steel Skin, Spanish: Iron) was useless! His sword ate the Reiryoku right out of my skin!_ "God fucking damn it!"

--

Itachi did not like this person. This person could not have his throat slit open by a conventional kunai knife. Apparently his skin was hard as steel, maybe harder. He called the ability Hierro. "Hierro?" Itachi repeated aloud. He noticed his opponent had his eyes closed. "I've never heard a word like that..."

Szayel was smiling a little. "Well I've never met a human with eyes quite as dangerous as yours. Poor Tesla-san is still in pain, what did you do to him?"

Itachi continued to stare at him. "I'm not sure. You have no Chakra for me to manipulate to cast Genjutsu on you, yet he is behaving as though I have ensnared him in Genjutsu. Additionally, I can now see you after making eye contact with him... how is this possible I wonder? Is it a hidden power of the Sharingan (Copy Wheel Eye) that has long been forgotten? Or does it have something to do with you?"

"Genjutsu you say?" Szayel crossed his arms. "Fascinating. I can't wait to cut you open. Those eyes of yours will be especially interesting!" With the sonic screech of Sonido Szayel vanished and reappeared, plunging his hand through Itachi's back again.

Szayel frowned as he felt the presence in front of him vanish with a pop. One of the signs of insanity if doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. Another presence was behind him with a fair distance of safety. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"

Szayel felt heat, but he did not move. Instead he opened his eyes to see what was happening and witnessed a fireball heading his way quickly. How something with contaminated Reiryoku like this specimen could perform such a Kido-like ability was beyond him. Regardless he was confident in his Hierro to protect him. Only as it hit him did he react with wide shocked eyes and use Sonido to escape the full blast. "Ah! Shit!" It burned his skin. That foreign element, whatever it was mixed into his Reiryoku, smelled disgusting to him, and it was harmful to his body, like poison.

Then he saw those eyes, the three tomoe marks in them rotated and smeared, merging into a three pointed shuriken shape. "Your eyes are open." Itachi stated blandly, and Szayel assumed he was smirking regardless. "Your curiosity got the better of you, and now you have fallen into the trap of my Mangekyo Sharingan (Kaleidoscope Copy Wheel Eye)."

--

Nnoitra had clashed several more times with Kisame before coming to the realization that he was 'royally fucked'. _His Zanpakuto eats my Reiryoku, Cero is useless, Hierro is useless, and he's fast enough to overcome my Sonido._ "Fucking shit!" Nnoitra ducked under Samehada's sideswipe, and jumped to quickly build up some distance from Kisame and collected himself for a moment. He looked over Kisame's sword again, the blade was entirely made of those giant blue scales, and only a few burnt tatters remained near the grip from when his Cero blew off the wrappings. The tiny skull on the pommel, the old, yellow stained grip was likely the same wrappings the sword was first made with and was never changed. _That terrifyingly powerful Zanpakuto..._

"What's the matter? Losing your cool oh great Nnoitra-sama?" Kisame chuckled.

Nnoitra growled. "You don't know shit! I'll tear you to pieces!" He hoisted his Zanpakuto into the air and held it vertical. "Inor-!" Nnoitra choked on his words as the entire area was suddenly flooded with a presence beyond his ability to withstand. He turned his head to see the other guy in the red cloud coat. That guy stood over Szayel's unconscious body with his eyes focused on him, those red eyes with the three tomoe marks.

"This battle is over." Itachi stated plainly. "You... have no clue how to cancel Genjutsu. From this point on you will be trapped inside your own mind until I say otherwise. I thank you, Espada; your friend was most informative. I will be reporting to my superiors on this matter, and you may be awakened at that time. Until then, enjoy some of what I gave the one you call Tesla." Nnoitra watched as Itachi dissolved away into crows, then his own Zanpakuto turned to dust, and the world around him began to do the same. He opened his mouth and released a muted scream or rage.

Outside of Nnoitra's mindscape, the fifth Espada fell to the ground unconscious.

Itachi then cast similar Genjutsu over the two trembling spheres and they fell into forced sleep. "Nice one Itachi... did you really have to steal the show?" Kisame complained.

"It matters not. Zetsu was here, and is probably giving the leader notice of our find. We should report to the nearest base and secure our prisoners until the leader gives us further orders." He glanced down at Nnoitra's body. _Such fools... jumping into a battle with no information. They simply assumed they were more powerful than us._ His scowl deepened. _It was their greatest folly._

--

It was a lot to digest all at once. The information Itachi had relayed to the leader was a bit much to just take it in stride like all other things. This was simply not something one would call a regular occurrence. Five beings from another realm: Nnoitra Jiruga, Szayel Aporro Granz, Tesla, Lumina, and Verona; and out of all of those names, not one made any sense to his ears. They were foreign, so much so that they were otherworldly.

That and their techniques: Hierro, Sonido, and Cero; were also foreign words. While he could interoperate the term Zanpakuto, the nature of the blades was confounding if Samehada truly was an example of one.

Itachi's thorough interrogation of Szayel Aporro Granz yielded a great deal of additional information. The name of their plane of origin, Hueco Mundo, their race, Hollow (subcategorized as Arrancar), and their ranks as Espada under the rule of a man named Aizen Sosuke. Oddly that name was not foreign, and Kisame had received a translation of Espada to mean 'Ten Swords'.

This Aizen fellow intrigued the Akatsuki's leader a great deal. To rule over such strange and powerful creatures as these Arrancar, he must be a powerful man indeed. Interestingly enough, Itachi had shared that thought and squeezed some information about him from Szayel. Aizen Sosuke was plotting to assassinate the spirit king and take his place. Such an act would make Aizen into a god. He scoffed at the thought of someone becoming a god in such a manner, but was intrigued never the less.

"Wake one of them from hypnosis… speak with him about arranging a meeting with this Aizen Sosuke." The leader gave his order in the form of an astral projection. The meeting was private between Kisame, Itachi, and himself only.

"Yes, leader-sama." Itachi replied promptly and the image vanished.


	3. Dangerous

Las Albor: The Dawn

Chapter 3: Dangerous

The Akatsuki leader sat on his usual perch overlooking Amegakure no Sato (Village Hidden in Rain), the rain of course was pouring heavily, but not a drop touched him as the overhang shielded him from the torrential downpour. Through the patter of the rainfall footsteps approached him from behind and he did little but nod slightly to acknowledge the presence.

His partner, the Akatsuki's beauty Konan, stood just inside the doorway, an ever-present look of apathy etched into her features. "He's here."

The leader knew this statement wasn't the end of what she had to say. He was in fact, expecting two visitors. "Zetsu?"

"Yes." She replied before turning around. An unspoken question hanging in the air. _What are you thinking… Nagato?_

The leader stood to his full height and began approaching the door. As he passed her his glance spoke his opinion quite clearly. _Does it matter?_

Konan could only close her eyes and bow her head slightly. _No… no it doesn't._

They both entered the building in unison and Zetsu stood waiting for them, a rolled up cloth and bandage tape at his side. The leader's Rinnegan (Transmigration Eyes) stared impassively at the bundle, and then Zetsu himself. "Report."

Zetsu nodded. "It has been forty eight hours since the disturbance was reported by Kisame and Itachi. Their interrogation of the spiritual entities known as Nnoitra Jiruga, Tesla, Verona, and Lumina have led to the same conclusion, the one known as Szayel Aporro Granz is the only member of the group capable of opening a gateway known as a Garganta to the world from which they came, due in no small part to the difficulty of reaching this world from theirs."

Zetsu's other voice picked up from there, a nigh sinister and coldly robotic one. "Upon receiving this information and having it cross referenced and fully confirmed… I was given this bundle, instructed that it contained the spiritual entity Szayel Aporro Granz. I have been unable to confirm this… as I am unable to see the spiritual entity."

The leader nodded silently and kept his gaze transfixed upon the bundle, his eyes registered in the usual manner that there was a form of energy about it, but it was not Chakra. No doubt it was pure spiritual energy as Itachi had reported. This was the one that was hit with Itachi's Tsukuyomi (Illusionary Underworld Moon), which made things far more difficult. Itachi cannot wake up someone who is simply comatose. "Unwrap the prisoner."

Zetsu complied and with a kunai severed a rope cord that was used to bind the bundle, and with relative ease, unwrapped the bandage-tape and the cloth to reveal to the leader's eyes a sakura-haired man with glasses and a strange white uniform. "You are unable to see this person?" He asked Zetsu, not even sparing him a glance.

"Correct." Zetsu replied.

"Konan?" He asked again.

"I cannot." She replied softly.

He nodded. "It appears my Dojutsu (Eye Technique) allows me to see him clearly… just as Itachi's does. Kisame's ability to see him is obviously a property given to him by Samehada, a Zanpakuto as these spiritual entities have called it."

Zetsu seemed shocked. "Zanpakuto? Soul Cutting Sword? You mean to imply that Samehada was forged for the sole purpose of slaying spirits?"

The leader finally met Zetsu's gaze. "I don't mean to imply anything. Whatever Samehada's purpose was, it doesn't change the fact that it has properties similar to the weapons the spirits wield, and they call those weapons Zanpakuto."

Zetsu nodded slowly. "I… see…"

The leader gestured for Konan to approach. "Take the prisoner to the interrogation room. I will be along shortly with the proper body…"

She nodded and hesitantly rolled the invisible being up in the cloth again, to provide herself a means to see what she was carrying. She lifted him over her shoulder and gave the leader a single glance before proceeding to leave the room.

The leader leveled his gaze with Zetsu. "Finish your report."

"Right…" Zetsu flinched. "Well, since the disturbance Orochimaru has formed several teams that have been patrolling the areas around the site of the encounter. It is likely he has somehow been made aware of the otherworldly visitors."

The leader nodded. This was also likely. Orochimaru had switched bodies no less than four times; if not more… not to mention his close encounter with the Sandaime's Shiki Fuuin… it was very likely Orochimaru had developed a very keen sense of the otherworldly. This could become a troublesome problem later on. "Uchiha Sasuke?"

Zetsu's other half spoke this time. "Is among those on patrol. No doubt Orochimaru thinks the Sharingan is one of the few means of seeing these spiritual entities."

The leader nodded. "That will be all Zetsu… resume your duties."

Zetsu smirked. "Of course… _leader-sama_." The plant-like Akatsuki sank into the floor rather swiftly, leaving the leader alone in the room for once.

"What's this I hear… about spiritual phenomena?" A shadow asked from the back of the room.

The leader could do nothing but be slightly surprised. His face remained apathetic, but he was quick to turn towards the direction of the voice, his guard momentarily up. It took him only a few moments before he relaxed again, realizing his folly. "You surprised me Madara."

"You should know better than to keep secrets from me Pain… what are you planning?" The shadow asked again.

Pain, Akatsuki's leader, without a doubt he held his own goals somewhere and clung to them at all times, seeing Madara's objective as little more than a means towards his end. For a man who calls himself God to take orders from another, that had to be how the relationship was founded.

"Nothing unusual. Itachi and Kisame encountered some spiritual beings recently. I'm looking into it. You need not concern yourself with this, and perhaps this will even aid us in our goals."

A single Sharingan eye appeared in the shadows. "Be very careful Pain. You have always been on thin ice…"

The Rinnegan heir nodded solemnly. "I am quite aware of your paranoia, Madara. You have nothing to fear from me."

The shadow grunted in distaste. "Which is precisely why I should watch you all the more closely. Don't lose sight of Akatsuki's real objective… or you'll find not even a god can withstand my wrath."

The shadow and the Sharingan were both gone at once.

Pain touched his left cheek and then stared at his bloodied hand. He had a cut on his cheek, shallow and harmless, but undetected all the same.

Dangerous.

Very dangerous.

--

Ulquiorra Cifer was a reasonable person, and very loyal too. Aizen Sosuke's orders took the forefront of his priorities, and he would follow them without complaint… or without verbal complaint anyway. _This is… ridiculous. Grimmjow… having to work with him is intolerable._

At the same time it was troubling. What could be so dangerous that Aizen would order three Espada to investigate it? Harribel he could stand, but Grimmjow was different. Grimmjow was a complete ass and, moreover, had a bone to pick with Ulquiorra that without a doubt could not be resolved without violent conflict.

As for the situation, all he knew for certain was that the fifth and eighth Espada went missing, thus the Espada one below and the two above the highest ranking missing person were mobilized to search and identify the cause of the disappearance. It made numerical sense, so Ulquiorra couldn't argue there… but tactically it seemed Aizen was much like himself and had no consideration for who actually works well together… hm… it's much different when you're on the receiving end of such a coldly logical order, makes it seem less logical and annoying.

"Fuck! Ulquiorra, we've been walking in the desert forever! Where the fuck are we going?! I think Di Roy's about to pass out!" Grimmjow yelled. The Espada's Fraccion were order to come along as well, strength in numbers and Grimmjow had a comparatively large number of Fraccion.

"I am not!" Di Roy yelled. He was an Arrancar damn it! It took more than a damn hike to make him winded! Regardless of his retort he was ignored.

"In order to get where we're going, I must open a Garganta from the edge of Hueco Mundo… only from there can we access the location that Szayel-san stumbled upon." Ulquiorra explained briefly.

Not enough information because several members of the little adventuring party wanted details. Two of them voiced it. "Where might that be?" Apache and Grimmjow both asked, although Grimmjow made an effort on sounding as condescending as possible, and Apache tried to sound as respectful as she could.

"Another world." Harribel answered their question plainly.

Grimmjow developed a tick on his brow. "So you're tellin' me… I'm the only one out of the loop?" A brief paused answered his question for him. "Well fuck you!"

Apache smashed her knee into the back of Grimmjow's head with a yell. "Show Harribel-sama some respect!"

Grimmjow was forced to lean forward from the blow, but his Hierro made it ineffective towards the goal of hurting him. He growled none the less, turned around and looked at her in an attempt to look imposing. "You're alive aint ya? There, I showed her respect by not killing her fuck up Fraccion. Happy?"

Apache crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, her gaze wavered as she felt his Reiatsu slowly creep around her. Heavy… it was very heavy. Well, he was an Espada after all…

Sun-Sun to the rescue. "Let it go Apache. You're being embarrassing."

Mila-Rose snorted. "Yeah! Quit being a fuck up! You're making us look bad!"

When Apache turned her ire on her fellow Fraccion Grimmjow just smirked, his bad mood obliterated. God he loved it when he got that bitch all riled up and sent her snarling at something else. It was always so satisfying.

Ulquiorra had sat down during the whole exchange; a crystalline shrub became his perch while he took a few moments of unneeded rest. Harribel just stood, ignoring them but cast her fellow Espada a glance. Ulquiorra wasn't very expressive, but he was scared. So was she, to an extent. She worried less about her own life, and more about her Fraccion. If this was a situation where a high ranking Espada could lose… well, at least she would let them do as they pleased in what may be their final breathing moments. Either Ulquiorra was thinking the same, or he was distracted by some other thing.

Ulquiorra was indeed deep in thought. They were being sent into an unknown situation. Aizen-sama hated unknowns, and so did Ulquiorra. There were so many unknowns that even with two of the top four Espada among them... Ulquiorra did not know exactly how to tackle the situation. He needed time to think. He was worried. The whole thing was wrong in some way. There were too many unknowns… far too many.

Then the pale Arrancar spoke. "I want everyone to be prepared. We have no idea what we'll be getting into. Rest for now, tomorrow at moon-rise we'll be finishing the journey."

Ulquiorra needed more time to think.

And not even Harribel disagreed with him. Her consent was the ruling. Ulquiorra was in charge, so now his word was law unless Aizen-sama showed up and told them otherwise. There was one thing for certain, if Harribel trusted anybody to keep a straight head it was Ulquiorra.

--

Konan sat in a rather comfortable chair in the interrogation room, a bit of a misnomer actually, as they never actually interrogated people there. Goodness no, far too messy. Why make someone talk when the master of the house could delve into the subject's very mind and extract any necessary information?

It was not long before Pain entered the room, wearing a different body from before. This one was tall, and had long perfectly straight amber hair that Konan could only describe as silky, the customary piercings of Chakra metal, and for some reason despite Pain's every attempt at an apathetic expression, this body always seemed to wear a smug grin plastered on its face. It, for it was only a body, only an object like a garment for pain to wear.

It stopped being a person a long time ago.

"I'm ready to begin." Pain stated. "Hopefully there will be no complications and this will only take a moment…" With a light kick he unrolled Szayel from his cloth prison and reached down to pick up the sakura-haired scientist by his pink locks. His Rinnegan eyes became unfocused as he went deep into a trance. "Now spirit… what do we have here?"

Konan watched as Pain's face suddenly morphed into genuine shock. This surprised her as well; it took a lot to surprise Pain. "Something interesting?" She asked, her voice not expressing her hidden worry.

Pain didn't need to answer, his silence spoke volumes. Something was very interesting in that spirit's mind, and Pain was deeply wrapped in trying to understand it.

Pain now had access to a plethora of information sealed away inside the mind of the genius Arrancar. So much information… spirit techniques among them. That wasn't all of course, but perhaps the most terrifying piece of information was that Szayel was resisting him, not only resisting, but also recovering from Tsukuyomi at an alarming rate. If he had to guess, he'd say Szayel would fully recover in another twenty-four hours.

"Szayel Aporro Granz… how very dangerous you are…" Pain mumbled, just loud enough for Konan to hear him.

Something very interesting was going to happen soon, and Pain knew just enough to predict what that something might be. "Anything you need me to do?" Konan asked plainly.

Pain nodded. "I'm going to need a brush and ink... we have a lot of work to do."


	4. Instinct

Las Albor: The Dawn

Chapter 4: Instinct

Green grass, green trees, green everywhere. It was never this green in Hueco Mundo. When you live in a vast endless desert of white sand and quartz tumbleweeds you tend to find such greenery either galling, or sublimely beautiful. Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez found it a mix a both actually. Some primal thing inside him found it disturbingly green, as he was a predator with a more or less white color scheme, but his more humane half was sort of placated by the oh so very alive environment.

For the sixth time since they arrived in this strange forest covered world, Grimmjow noted the movement of a squirrel that he swore for the life of him seemed to be following them. He was probably just being paranoid, more likely they were simply numerous and he was noticing different squirrels. Even then, the environment was exceedingly alive, why this calmed him he'd never know.

Grimmjow stared ahead, calm, and exceedingly bored. Ulquiorra and Harribel were more than content to just wander on in silence, but Grimmjow needed to keep himself occupied with something more than his own thoughts, lest he go crazy and fire a Cero at the damn squirrel (that makes seven). So he hung back slightly to join the Fraccion in their incessant babbling that one could call a conversation.

"This place would be rather nice for a picnic." Sun-Sun mused, one of her overly-long sleeves raised to cover her mouth, hiding her tiny grin.

Apache snorted in brief mirth but didn't really have anything to add to Sun-Sun's rather offhanded comment. Mila-Rose however decided to dignify it with a response. "Don't be ridiculous. This place is uncomfortable, stuffy, wet, and full of animals. It's a horrible place for a picnic."

Apache snorted again, it wasn't the location that she found funny; it was the idea of Arrancar having a picnic at all that she found humorous. She could only picture a blanket laid out on the ground with Grimmjow's pack of bloodthirsty mongrels sitting around munching on more or less every defenseless woodland creature that ran by while talking about the weather. It was a picture of contradictions in her mind.

Apache wasn't really alone in her thoughts; Edorad Liones also found the mental image conjured up by Sun-Sun's musing worth a brief chuckle and a grin. Di Roy seemed like he had something to say about it but wasn't actually dumb enough to say it out loud and earn the enmity and ire of one of Harribel's Fraccion. However it was Yylfordt Granz who seemed to attract attention when he simply gave a hum of thought, his eyes following a raccoon that was more or less oblivious to their presence.

Edorad clapped his comrade on the back. "Eh Yylfordt, you've been ridiculously quiet. Something up?"

The blonde Arrancar shook his head slowly. "Nah, bro. I just don't see what could have held up Szayel here, ya know? Bro's like, supposed to be super smart of somthin… this place just seems like, super peaceful and stuff, ya know?"

Apache glanced back at the men. "Hey… that's right, you're the Octavo's brother aren't you?"

Yylfordt nodded. "Ya, but it's not like we were close or nothin. I'm not like, _worried_ about him and stuff… but this whole thing bugs me, ya know?"

Edorad glanced at ground to his left. "Yeah… I've noticed it too. Something about this place is just… not _right_."

Apache hummed. "I thought I was the only one who noticed that weird feeling in the air." She turned her gaze to the sky and grimaced. "It stinks."

Mila-Rose waved her hand dismissively. "You're all just imagining it. It's a forest."

Grimmjow chose that point to join the conversation, as it was very much something worth discussing. "No… I noticed it too. At first I thought it was just that there wasn't any Reishi (Spirit Particles) in the air, which was why we couldn't fly, but then I noticed there was something else." He closed his eyes as they continued through the forest, the Fraccion had their eyes fixed on him, as if awaiting a great revelation. Then he opened his eyes and grinned widely. "It's interference! This whole world is bathed in some kind of interfering energy that coming from all this living stuff…"

This outburst caught Ulquiorra and Harribel's attention as well, and the whole group came to a stop in the middle of the forest path. Apache's eyes widened as she pondered on what Grimmjow had realized; she could sort of feel it now that he put that feeling into words. "It's like some kind of nasty living energy… but if that's all then why don't we notice this in the normal living world?"

Di Roy plucked a blade of grass and held it to his nose but didn't smell anything odd about it. "Maybe because there's so much Reishi in the living world?" He held it under Yylfordt's nose and watched his comrade cringe and take a step back.

Ulquiorra's deadpanned expression nearly became a scowl. He couldn't detect this energy at all. Something wasn't right here. Even so… it was beginning to come together. "If the beings that live here can harness this living energy… then it stands to reason that that's why Szayel and Nnoitra were defeated."

Grimmjow scowled. "A Hollow should always trust his instincts. If something smells like shit… then it's probably shit."

"Very eloquent Grimmjow." Ulquiorra resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but the sarcasm was very easy to notice.

"What Grimmjow is trying to say…" Harribel began. "Is that this living energy he senses is potentially very dangerous to us… am I right?" He cast Grimmjow a glance and received a curt nod in reply. "From here on, nobody eat anything. This whole world may be made out of poison."

Edorad cringed. "Luckily, breathing it doesn't seem to be a problem…"

Yylfordt grimaced as well. "Totally hope so, bro."

Grimmjow closed his eyes again to focus. "Nah… the stuff in the air isn't dense enough… it's different… but now that I know what it is…" His mouth twisted into a wide grin. "I can filter it out of my Pesquisa (Probe Circuit, Spanish: Inquiry)." In his mind's eye there was a void filled with white static, and as he focused for a time the static slowly vanished until ten lights surrounded him. He focused harder, and those ten lights vanished, he didn't need to find his allies that stood right beside him. In the void that surrounded him was a lone yellow beacon on the very fringe of his perception, fuzzy, and weak, but he could feel the distinct impression of a moderately powerful Reiryoku. "Bingo. I think I found Nnoitra."

--

For a loner, Ulquiorra was surprisingly good at group strategies. The closer they got the clearer the picture of their situation became. Grimmjow had painted it quite clearly with a rather colorful description of the energies in the area. Nnoitra's Reiryoku was weird and slightly distorted, probably not sealed, but definitely altered by an outside force. Tesla, Verona, and Lumina were also in the same location and Grimmjow was able to identify them once they got closer, but the Fraccion were in a similar altered state as Nnoitra, whatever that state may be.

Then the description truly gets colorful, as Grimmjow could sense the captors. The first one was an enormous beacon of Reiryoku mixed thoroughly with life energy into a giant supernova of the deadly cocktail, barely contained inside of some kind of mortal shell as far as Grimmjow could tell. The Reiatsu in the air was minimal, but Grimmjow stated clearly, _"One of them's powerful as fuck…"_ Suddenly the Sexta Espada was no longer surprised Nnoitra got his ass handed to him. _"He's got shitloads of Reiryoku and that life energy… mixed together and shit… it's almost like the sun's wearing a Gigai (Faux Body)."_

The second one was also troublesome because apparently Grimmjow could barely sense him at all. Every now and then he would get a brief glimpse of some Reiryoku or life energy, but never both, and never clearly. He obviously had the energy, so why couldn't he sense it clearly? _"It's weird… I dunno what to make of it… either he's a tightwad with real good control over his power enough to keep it locked off tight most of the time, or he's doing something really strange with his energies so I can't detect it."_

Ulquiorra was never so close to being happy to have Grimmjow around. It was very good to know what they were vaguely up against. Also, the location became clear once they drew close enough, a carefully sealed cave, but nothing a Cero from the fourth Espada couldn't handle. So the plan was formed. They would take no chances, a quick in out extraction of their downed allies, if only to pump them for information on their enemies to engage them at a later date. Also, Szayel wasn't there so they needed to find out where he might have been taken. _"Harribel, you're the strongest Espada here, so you are to distract or disable the powerful one if you are able. I will keep the other one occupied. Judging simply by Grimmjow's description we should go in with swords drawn, but don't release unless you absolutely have to… if we come back to fight them again, we don't want them knowing the full extent of our abilities._

_"Once the two hostiles are distracted, Harribel's Fraccion will immediately begin recovery along with Grimmjow. Grimmjow's Fraccion will wait outside to provide support as needed, and also to cover our escape. Don't fight if you don't have to, you only need to slow them down long enough to get away. Once we escape we will find a suitable place to hide and work from there."_

Exceedingly careful, the plan could only come from the mind of the slightly obsessive compulsive Cuarta Espada. There were so many unknowns that the first priority was decreasing the risks, and the danger of the life energy these people may wield was very real if Grimmjow's instincts could be trusted.

"Is everyone prepared?" Ulquiorra asked for what would hopefully be the final time. Glancing behind himself he was met with a chorus of silent nods. "Then we'll begin the operation…"

Harribel reached over her shoulder and looped a finger through one of the holes on the guard, and with a yank, spun the sword free of its sheath and around her finger until the hilt rested in her palm. The strangely hollow sword, like many of the weapons wielded by the Arrancar, was unique in an almost impractical manner. The guard and hilt looked like oversized versions of a katana's tsuba and tsuka, and the blade matched them in its overall scale, but was hollowed out, leaving only the edge all around with the approximate thickness of a normal Japanese sword, and yet the blade was shorter than the standard blade, and was completely straight just up until the curved katana-like tip. To the conventional swordfighter, the blade was an abomination. In the hands of Harribel, however, it was as much as weapon as any other part of her body, and as a Hollow _every_ part of her body was a weapon.

Ulquiorra likewise drew his blade, an almost completely normal katana when set next to Harribel's, but as it was an Arrancar's Zanpakuto and its normal shape was hardly a very good measure to its true unnatural power. It was harder, sharper, and the slightest bit heavier than a normal sword of its shape and size, and composed entirely of his own spiritual power. The blade was death to all who he drew it on, and may the powers of the beyond have mercy on the soul of anyone who actually hears its name.

"Be ready to act swiftly… on my mark…" Ulquiorra lifted his index finger and leveled it with the boulder blocking the mouth of the cave, taking careful note to not line it up with Nnoitra's presence. Red energy began building at his fingertip swiftly, and in a matter of seconds reached the critical point. "Begin." The power was released.

--

Itachi's eyes opened wide as he was stirred from his sleep by a tremendous energy on the fringe of his budding sixth sense. Kisame, was similarly stirred to wake by Samehada suddenly squirming against his back and he immediately turned to Itachi for an answer. It was in this brief moment of confusion that the whole cave began to rumble. "Itachi?! What-?!"

The Uchiha traitor's Sharingan whirled to life and he turned towards the entrance to their hide-away. Frantic in the horrifying possibilities behind what he felt, what he saw, and what he knew was happening. "Kisame! Something's breaking the barrier!"

Nothing more need be said, whatever was burrowing through the wall of Chakra just beyond the makeshift stone door was winning, and they could not let themselves get hit with it when it got through. The Kiri-nin hefted his sword off his back with incredible speed and it became the only shield between the Akatsuki members and the door. With a deafening shattering sound and then an explosion a firestorm of red energy tore into the room, where it was then devoured by Kisame's living blade.

Then the dust cleared they saw only two figures standing on the other side of the cave. One of the silhouettes appeared to have its hand level with Kisame's sword, and the other hand was holding what was easily recognized as a katana. The other figure was holding a strangely shaped object in its right hand.

Itachi's eyes narrowed at the intruders before the one with the katana spoke. "Ho…" A deep voice cooed softly in the slightest of interest. "They managed to block it." The smoke cleared to reveal a pair of emerald green eyes offset by pale skin and tattooed tears of green. The half of the bone-white helm covering his back hair, and the small hole in his neck told Itachi what he was far before the white robes, his trip into Szayel's mind with Tsukuyomi revealed many things to him, and those identifiers were the ones he inclined himself to be sure to remember.

"Arrancar…"


	5. Reflected These Eyes is Death

Las Albor: The Dawn

Chapter 5: Reflected These Eyes is Death

Even before he could see into the cave he could feel that his Cero was stopped by one of the inhabitants. From what he could tell the powerful one was directly in his line of fire too. "Ho…" Ulquiorra hummed in interest. "They managed to block it." Ulquiorra's eyes remained affixed on the large, blue, scale-covered sword as the smoke cleared. His exceptional mind puzzled out exactly what had happened quite quickly. _That sword must be a Shinigami's Zanpakuto… and it eats Reiryoku by the looks of things. _"Watch out for that sword, Harribel. Hierro is useless against it."

Harribel seemed to better grasp the situation and closed her eyes; whatever expression accompanied the action was hidden by her high collar. "I figured as much." When they opened again she vanished from Ulquiorra's side to engage the blue skinned man with sword of scales in combat, leaving the other enemy entirely at Ulquiorra's mercy.

Itachi didn't seem that worried, and in truth he wasn't. It was easy enough to cast Genjutsu over these poltergeists, but… _For them to shatter a Gofu Kekkai (Five Seal Barrier) with brute power alone… it should be impossible. Leave it to these Arrancar to break all the rules._ A familiar sound of radio-static alerted Itachi to the strange fast movement technique the Arrancar used. In all respects it reminded him of how Shisui used Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique), thus it was easy enough for him to predict and follow with his Sharingan. It's not like it was teleportation or anything… but this pale skinned Arrancar was a bit of an expert at it… predicting that someone was going to zip in front of you and impale you in the heart was only useful if you were actually fast enough to dodge.

Ulquiorra was fast. Understatement of the year. Ulquiorra was faster than Itachi, now that was an impressive statement. With a single step he traversed the whole cave, and with a blur during his unseen journey had aimed his sword at Itachi's heart. The sound of blade splitting through his opponent's sternum was music to the Hollow's ears. One less thing to worry about. "Hm, as expected. You were trash after all."

Itachi's skewered body seemed rather unaffected by the mortal wound for a human. His red eyes glanced down at the wound and examined Ulquiorra's blade. It was a rather nice sword. Then his eyes moved to meet Ulquiorra's. "Aren't you a bit hasty to judge?" Even as blood trickled from his mouth, his speech was as clear and fluid as ever.

Naturally, Ulquiorra's eyes grew wide and he withdrew his blade hastily decapitate his target. Itachi made no move to dodge, and the unnaturally sharp blade sent his head flying into the air, with his body unflinching before the Cuarta Espada. Itachi's severed head smirked. "Ah, merciless as a shinobi I see." Ulquiorra watched in silence as Itachi's body and head both began dissolving into a swarm of crows.

Suddenly the whole thing made sense. _A replica?_ Ulquiorra examined the area quickly and found himself, much as he expected, to be surrounded by exactly five more of the Uchiha traitor's duplicates. _How futile._

Itachi didn't have a chance to be chastising or witty, all five of his replicas were decapitated in a white and green blur, only for the entire coalition to dissolve just as the first one had, leaving a rather massive swarm of crows to coalesce above Ulquiorra into a swarm of black that slowly seemed to be coming together into a cloud of blood and feathers. "This is unending. Save yourself the trouble. I don't want to fight; we could try to reach an understanding."

Ulquiorra's lip twitched momentarily. "You really take me for a fool?" _Nobody would fall for such an obvious lie._ "Why don't you face me properly? Spare yourself the trouble of making all these worthless duplicates."

Itachi seemed to find humor in that. "Do you take _me_ for a fool? Sonido, Hierro, Cero… among many they are techniques I'm still only beginning to understand. I'm aware you are Arrancar, but what exactly does that mean? What does an Arrancar come from? Where does an Arrancar come from? What is Hueco Mundo? Who is Aizen Sosuke?" Itachi watched Ulquiorra's eyes narrow ever so slightly. "No… I have many questions and few answers. Szayel Aporro Granz was very reluctant to provide any meaningful information… Besides, I'm doing well enough as it is with these Karasu Bunshin (Crow Clones)."

A rain of black cloaked Uchiha split from the cloud of blood and feathers, and Ulquiorra responded swiftly and efficiently as his sword arm became a blur, cutting down one kunai-wielding assailant after another before they could even reach attacking distance. _This is getting ridiculous… time to end it._ The pale skinned Hollow leaped backwards with the added boost of Sonido and halted his attacks. His left hand rose and a single finger aimed at the clone generating cloud of red and black, a red light forming at its tip. "Cero."

--

Kisame raised Samehada to block a brutish swing from the dark skinned Arrancar woman. If Samehada was any other sword, it would have been rent in two by the brute force behind the attack. In fact, even though it was Samehada, one of the scales at the site of impact cracked under the strain. Kisame hissed in rage, the sword could allegedly heal itself over time, but it was an untested ability. It had simply never broken before.

The blue skinned ninja leapt backwards to put some distance between himself and his enemy. He couldn't help but chuckle sarcastically. "You've got a crazy sword… so much power in it; my Samehada couldn't even suck it out fast enough to reduce the damage… what's its name?"

Harribel's eyes seemed to hold the briefest expression of amusement before she squashed it. "My sword's name? Well, aren't you daring?" She held it at her side and azure energy filled the hollow hole in her blade. "Where I come from… asking the name of your opponent's sword can mean one of two things… either you are an overconfident fool, or you have a death wish." She gave the augmented sword a swing and a ribbon of azure energy trailed behind the blade. "You're not yet worthy to hear the name of my sword… but I'll take you seriously as payment for telling me the name of yours."

Kisame grinned. "Interesting. I learn more about you Arankaru every day."

Harribel sighed. "It's pronounced Arrancar."

The blue-skinned man's mouth became a flat line as he deadpanned in embarrassment. "Uh… I knew that."

She was upon him with a flash of Sonido, and he raised his sword to block her swing, again he felt Samehada siphon some of her energy out from the blade, but its vastness made the power rather ineffective to prevent the sword from not only cracking as it had with her last swing, but also caused several scales to shatter into pieces, leaving a rather bloody mess on the flat of his living blade.

"Shit!" Kisame cursed and his blade's scream of pain echoed through his mind.

Harribel's eyes narrowed as she pulled her blade back for a second swing, this time she angled it upward, and when Kisame shifted his sword to block with an undamaged portion he realized a moment too late what she intended to do.

It was all about leverage and in desperation to block Kisame lost all of his. Without being able to apply his own super-human force to his block Samehada was saved from the impact, but at the same time Kisame was unable to hold his ground from such a strike. In fact, he was sent flying right into the ceiling of the back of the cave from the impact of Harribel's upward attack. He was lucky in some regards that he was thrown hard and fast enough to avoid being hit with a burst of crimson Reiryoku that shot from Ulquiorra's finger a moment later.

Kisame and the Cero hit the ceiling at the same time, and the cave was sent rumbling from the impact.

--

Ulquiorra was annoyed. His Cero had dispersed the cloud but also dispersed a good portion of the ceiling, but it did not prevent his opponent from conjuring more of those infernal Karasu Bunshin. A pair of them had appeared from nothing behind the Cuarta Espada and held a pair of knives to his neck. Ulquiorra doubted they could pierce his skin but he decided not to test his theory on such a vital part of his anatomy.

A third visage of Itachi appeared before Ulquiorra, and sauntered up to him rather casually. "Your strength is considerable, impressive even… you're stronger than the ones from before and they were Espada, your elite… so you must be one as well, and a number higher ranking than five… however that power will not save you." A full length katana shot into his hand from his sleeve. "All who are reflected in my eyes will fall. This is the power of my Sharingan."

Ulquiorra gazed into those eyes, those red eyes with those three tomoe pupils spinning on a ring. For a moment he saw his death, Itachi's sword slowly sliding between his eyes. Then it struck him, an epiphany. _None of this is real! _All the clues his keen mind filed away without a second thought broiled to the surface and fit together to assemble the puzzle that was his enemy. Every inconsistency, every impossibility, every vague clue, all pointed to one distinct truth. _I've been hypnotized… by those eyes… _Ulquiorra was a calm and collected person, but for the first time in a long time, he felt unbending hatred. _I've been made a fool of._

Itachi's brow furrowed as Ulquiorra's leveled gaze warped into a glare. "Ho? You figured it out, have you? You understand what has happened, that you are no longer in control of your own mind… but you are wrong, this is real. This illusion, this is your reality now." He lifted his sword to Ulquiorra's forehead, ready to drive it in. "You're too dangerous. This is the end… Arrancar."

--

The consensus when Kisame hit the ceiling was that the two enemies in the cave were sufficiently distracted. So, Apache, Mila-Rose, Sun-Sun, and Grimmjow made their move. Apache killed two birds with one stone hefting Telsa over her shoulder and dragging Lumina by the collar of her shirt, while Mila-Rose used her considerable strength to grab Nnoitra, but he was tall as hell. Sun-Sun grabbed Verona and ran, impressively fast so that Apache couldn't even figure out exactly how her fellow Fraccion carried the rotund Arrancar.

Then something entirely unexpected happened. Ulquorra fell to his knees.

Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose weren't distracted, but Apache was so shocked she stopped moving. Then the black haired man in the cloak with red clouds turned his head to look at her and she felt a suffocating Reiatsu engulf her. It was thick and heavy, and it made her knees shake as those freakish red eyes met hers. Her world began to spin, but as quickly as it began it ended.

Grimmjow interrupted the Akatsuki member's assault on Apache's mind with an attempt to kick him in the face. The man dodged, but the eye contact was broken and Apache was free. "Run!" Grimmjow yelled, and his own monstrous pressure surrounded her, but not in a way that was deadly as it was the day before when she suffered his ire, instead it felt safe and reassuring as it repelled the enemy's power that was holding her down.

Grimmjow was about to turn back to Itachi when Ulquiorra gasped. "Don't… his… eyes…" So Grimmjow huffed and stared at his enemy's feet.

"Damn complicated… anyway, I know it's rude to steal another man's prey, but… well I think I can say I called dibs on this bastard first." Grimmjow smirked. "So… we'll be pulling out now!" He yelled so Harribel could hear before he spun on a heel and grabbed Ulquiorra as he sprinted out of the cave with Sonido.

Itachi blinked. Then he barely registered the dark skinned woman bolt from the cave as well. "Kisame… we can't let them escape."

His blue skinned partner spat out a tooth as he advanced to the Uchiha's side. "Goody. I'm pissed now."

Both of them gave chase at full speed.


	6. The Worm

Las Albor: The Dawn

Chapter 6: The Worm

Pain stared at the carefully crafted array he had drawn on the wall with a look of indifference. His eyes ran over the symbols and the formula over and over again, ensuring they were correct. It was a large ellipse of runes, and on each of the far sides it narrowed to points. At those points were the tops of two rods that were covered in fuda seals, and from the base of those rods were even more runs arranged in an array that came together around him.

It was a complex sealing structure of a complex task. Truly it was rather a marvel to look at, applying the concepts behind the Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) to create a gate to another world. This was technically impossible for someone who knew nothing of summoning, and nothing of the Hollow's trans-dimensional technique. However Pain knew all about summoning, and all about the Hollow's Garganta.

The body he had standing in the array was none other than his summoning body, with long hair tied in a ponytail and a single wide bridge piercing on the nose. He turned his head away from his creation as Konan and Kakuzu entered the room, the later of the two carrying a bag of supplies. "Are you two ready?"

Kakuzu huffed. "Not to sound indignant, leader-sama, but may I ask… why I'm partnered with Konan? What is this mission anyway? I have no details except that I should be prepared for an extended special mission… a briefing would be lovely." Kakuzu managed to carefully sound polite, sarcastic, and mildly annoyed all at the same time. Needless to say, Pain was rather impressed.

Akatsuki's leader nodded slightly. "Of course. Tell me Kakuzu… in the corner of the room, what do you see?"

The elder Akatsuki member's green eyes darted to the aforementioned corner, where a pink haired man in strange white clothing was bound in chain and had multiple black rods stabbed into his sides and shoulders. "A prisoner by the looks of things…"

Pain nodded. "That prisoner is also an invisible poltergeist to the majority of the world." Kakuzu's response was to snap his attention to Pain in a bit of shock. "Recently, Kisame and Itachi have managed to capture a small number of these strange invaders, and I have recently obtained a great deal of information from that prisoner in particular. This mission… is to enter the world they are from and recruit their enemies. Konan has the details and will provide them as necessary… You are currently the only member other than Zetsu who is without a partner, and I was right in assuming you would be able to see the monsters."

Kakuzu sighed in reassignment. "This… sounds like a big mess."

Pain locked eyes with Kakuzu and made his tone extremely clear. "Also… please try not to kill Konan… she is my partner after all, and you will have yours shortly after your return."

Kakuzu nodded stiffly. He'd apparently have to be extra careful around this girl… _Damn women…_

Pain then turned his full attention to the seal array and his hands began flying through a string of seals. "Horo Hijutsu: Garuganta (Hollow Secret Technique: Garganta)." With the sound of an old record skipping fused with radio static and an extremely muffled tearing, the wall seemed to split open in the eye shaped sealing array and open like a maw to allow passage into a dark space filled with roiling violet and black clouds in all direction. "I can't hold this open for long… move quickly."

Konan spared not a moment in forming her own hand seal. "Kami Fuyu (Paper Suspension)." Paper flew from her sleeves and folded and connected to form a floating platform shaped like a paper airplane, Kakuzu merely raised a bewildered eyebrow. Konan gave his a simplistically flat reply. "There is no ground inside the passage." She jumped onto the paper platform and Kakuzu shrugged before joining her. Once they were both aboard the paper structure accelerated on a burst of force and flew through the gate.

Kakuzu actually chuckled as he rode the paper platform through the giant rip in reality. _This thing is surprisingly stable… I wonder how she does it. I can't think of many ways to make the paper stay aloft while carrying this much weight. _Kakuzu scowled and glanced at his temporary partner._ Konan… she's a little frightening since I barely knew she existed before now, but she's this powerful…_

Konan glanced at Kakuzu, finding his staring but caring none. "We're almost to the other side… the living world of this other realm…"

Kakuzu nodded. "Ah… We should be careful… "

--

Grimmjow growled in anger before hissing under his breath. "Fuck." They were catching up. The group's top speed was only as fast as the slowest member, and that person was much slower than the two ninja chasing them. "We might be in trouble."

Harribel glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "What do you suggest we do?"

Grimmjow remained silent, he just continued to scowl and run. Eventually this behavior wore thin on someone's nerves. Apache snarled. "Well! Any bright ideas?!"

The Sexta Espada glared daggers behind himself at the Fraccion. "Other than have all you slow shits stay behind and _die_, no I don't have a fuckin thing." Normally that plan wasn't out of the question, but Harribel actually cared about her Fraccion. Her underlings were loyal, so she paid them with loyalty in kind.

Eventually Shawlong spoke. "Perhaps… one of us could slow them down long enough for the rest to escape."

All eyes turned to Di Roy, who immediately began sweating bullets until Nakeem interrupted them. "I could do it."

Shawlong's brow quirked slightly. "Really? While it is true you might have better chances than the rest of us… I would never have expected you to volunteer. What brought that on?"

Di Roy scowled. _No fucking way._ They were going to throw him to the enemies like a bad piece of bait, and Nakeem goes and plays the hero. "Fuck no." He growled. "No way, Nakeem you do not get to pretend to be some bullshit hero! I can hide all of us just fine! We don't need to fuckin sacrifice anybody!"

Now all eyes were seriously on Di Roy, and even the Espada slowed slightly. "Care to explain that Einstein?" Apache asked with more than a small amount of disbelief evident in her words.

Grimmjow answered for him. "No… this just might work… question is, Di Roy… can you do it fast enough?"

The Fraccion nodded. "Yes. I'll definitely do it."

Grimmjow grinned. "Then do it." He stopped running and the group stopped with him as Di Roy drew his sword and pounced from the treetops to impale his blade in the ground. "Horisageru (Dig Down)…" Reiatsu began to flare from the earth as it cracked around his blade. "Gusano (Tunnel Lord, Spanish: Worm)!"

--

Itachi and Kisame stopped suddenly in the middle of the woods and Itachi examined the area carefully. "They appear to have disappeared." Kisame gave a howl of rage and slammed Samehada into the ground with explosive strength.

"What the fuck Itachi?!" The blue skinned man yelled.

The Uchiha winced. Kisame was usually rather polite. These Arrancar were nothing less than agents of chaos to drive Kisame to be so disrespectful with rage. "Calm yourself… there is nothing that can be done now. I felt one of them flair its power here… but it appears to be gone now. They may have returned to their own world…"

Kisame took a deep breath and heaved out a sigh. "You're right… I need to get my head back on straight otherwise that bitch will just kick my ass… we need to get stronger Itachi… these things are scary."

The Uchiha nodded. "In time… but first we must report this to the leader… we underestimated their tenacity."

Meanwhile, quite a few feet underground, a rather large number of Arrancar were tightly packed in a tiny cavern barely large enough to fit them all.

Apache's eye twitched. She was practically sitting on Tesla and every now and then something hard and bony would run against her nose. Then Edorad laughed fairly loudly. "I think it worked!"

Yylfordt responded predictably. "Fuckin sweet, bro!" The sound of a high five being executed echoed through the dark cave.

Apache's eye twitched again.

Harribel's voice then rang out. "Grimmjow… please refrain from touching me there."

Grimmjow chuckled. "Tough luck toots. No room to move even if I wanted to."

Apache's eye twitched again.

Then somebody of respectable strength, which was likely Harribel-sama, shoved somebody else, who was likely Grimmjow, and displaced several people which eventually led to the bony object being shoved entirely into Apache's face.

The female Fraccion snapped. "Di Roy… Get your goddamn chitins-plated ass out of my fuckin face or I'll-!"

"Oh c'mon you know you like it." Di Roy cooed stupidly.

There was a crunching sound.

"Ow! Fuck! You bit me! You bitch!"

Apache spat and gagged. "That really was your ass wasn't it?! Fuck!"

A good number of Arrancar laughed at the expense of a good number of others. Threats of inevitable castration were soon to follow.

--

A final hand sign and the small underground base crafted by Doton Ninjutsu (Earth Release Ninja Techniques) was complete. Kakuzu was tasked with creating a place of shelter just outside the city in the small forest… or was it a park. It was insanely difficult to tell, but Doton made creating an underground shelter cheap, easy, and time efficient. Turning around and heading for the small stone stairwell to reach the surface and check on his companion, he was pleasantly surprised when the earth moved out of the way as she began coming down. "I take it you found the target early."

Konan merely nodded as she took a few steps into the shelter. "Yes… suffice to say… I'm actually surprised he was so easy to locate… Urahara Kisuke… the mastermind of the resistance against Aizen…"

Kakuzu chuckled. "From what I've been informed of, these people think more like Samurai than Shinobi. Don't be so surprised that they don't hide every single action behind a veil of secrecy."

Konan nodded slightly. "Never the less, this man is supposed to be a genius… tread lightly, and try not to come across as too hostile."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "Me? Hostile? Surely you jest." He replied sarcastically.

Konan rolled her eyes. "And here I heard you have no sense of humor."

Kakuzu shrugged. "Only when there's money involved."

Konan turned back to the exit and began to leave. "Let's go… the sooner we do this the sooner we can go home."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "How _do_ we get home anyway?"

Konan stopped and glanced back at Kakuzu before blinking very slowly. "I'm sure Pain had some kind of plan…"


	7. The Square Snake

Las Albor: The Dawn

Chapter 7: The Square Snake

Somewhere underground there was a set of intricate stone tunnels carved into the earth by some human means. These tunnels were stable, rather homely, and at one time were lit with torches to give them a lighting that screamed 'evil lair'. It was this conveniently roomy set of tunnels that Di Roy had stumbled upon in which the arrancar invaders from Hueco Mundo found themselves being deposited after a rather messy exit from the tiny cavern Di Roy had found earlier.

Apparently he could move himself and anybody touching him through the earth as if it was water, the problem was that unlike him, they couldn't breathe it, and he had no way of actually displacing the soil and stone. So they had to take what he found naturally.

Di Roy reverted to his sealed state and sheathed his sword with a cocky grin. "Well? How'd I do? Not bad, ne?"

Grimmjow gave him a slap on the back. "I gotta admit you don't make yourself useful often… so it's twice as impressive as it probably should be."

Di Roy wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not, but seeing as it was coming from Grimmjow-sama, he'd take whatever he could get. His grin widened slightly.

Sun-Sun was standing in front of the undisturbed wall and staring at it rather intently. Harribel joined her after a moment while the others gathered around the unconscious bodies of Tesla, Nnoitra, Ulquiorra, Lumina, and Verona. Edorad gave a hum of thought. "How do you suppose we can wake them up?"

Grimmjow gave a wide grin. "Let's start with the old fashioned way." Prodding Ulquiorra gently he yelled. "Yo, bastard! Wake up!" Nothing. Though he really only did that so he could say he tried a gentler approach later when he really did what he wanted. "Now less conventional, but hell, Lilynette resorts to worse to wake up the Primera so…" Lifting Ulquiorra by the scruff of his shirt Grimmjow brought his right arm back for a wake up punch the Cuarta would not soon forget. Several Fraccion's expressions became mixes of horror and excitement. "Wakey wakey, Ulquiorra!"

--

Ulquiorra's world was one of constant pain as he experienced the death of having a sword thrust through his skull, and then that pain had persisted in his unconscious mind. He knew it wasn't real, but he had no method of breaking the illusion. He was helpless.

Then he was forced to gasp all the air from his lungs as a tremendous blow struck his gut. Immediately the pain in his head was replaced with the pain of a fist colliding with his body with unnecessarily brutal force. The blackness around him shattered and the illusion was broken as he went sailing through the air before crashing into the wall behind him, at least thirty feet down the hall from his aggressors.

Grimmjow's laugh was unmistakable.

The Cuarta was lucky he managed to harden his Hierro just before he hit otherwise the impact of hitting the wall would have hurt as well and he would have come out of the situation undignified. Coughing once and dusting off his coat the fourth Espada glanced up at Grimmjow, still thirty feet down the hall, with a withering glare. A burst of Sonido later, and he stood before the other Arrancar. "That… was unnecessary…"

Grimmjow shrugged. "Whatever works, right?"

To this the Cuarta could do nothing but glance at his still unconscious companions. "No… you're right…" He had to admit the truth of the matter. It was not being touched that broke the illusion, it was the pain. "Had you not done that I would not have learned that pain will break the hypnosis that man with the red eyes placed on us."

The others all stared at the Cuarta with expressions of shock. "H-hypnosis?" Apache hissed.

"Like… Aizen-sama's power?" Yylfordt asked, equally perplexed.

Grimmjow grew angry. "You mean… that guy has that kind of power?! Fuck! No wonder he beat you!"

Ulquiorra nodded. "It is… a potent ability. It is fortunate we were able to escape relatively unharmed."

The others stood in silence as they digested this information.

Eventually Mila-Rose broke the silence. "So… who gets to punch Quinta?"

Apache seemed to light up with joy. "Me!"

Mila-Rose laughed. "You would. How about we both just kick him?"

Ulquiorra saw no reason to intervene, and left the situation to Grimmjow as he approached Harribel and Sun-Sun. "Did I miss anything important?"

Harribel shook her head. "Not entirely. Although Sun-Sun thinks there's something strange about how these tunnels were made."

Ulquiorra glanced at the silent Fraccion for a moment, and then prompted her to speak. "What's so interesting about these walls?"

Sun-Sun turned suddenly. "My apologies Ulquiorra-sama… but when we arrived… I thought the patterns on these walls appeared as if it was constructed by an enormous serpent. Although… it now appears that is not the case, as the walls would not be flat as they are, but… the pattern exists, as if it was intentionally constructed to look this way."

Ulquiorra himself stared at the wall for a moment. "Its solid stone… how is that possible?"

Sun-Sun nodded. "That's what I was discussing with Harribel-sama… even with the right tools, this level of craftsmanship would take hours on just this hall alone, and that's if multiple people worked on it, but it's so flawless… it had to have all been done by one person."

Harribel nodded. "So they either took their time… or these people have a method of doing something like this much faster than us… much faster than normal humans."

Sun-Sun placed a sleeved hand over her mouth. "Or perhaps they had a square snake…"

In any other circle of people this would have been a wonderful joke. However between these Arrancar and their lack of knowledge of this strange new world… it was considered a distinct possibility. That fact alone made Ulquiorra scowl. "We don't know anything about this world."

Nnoitra's howl of pain and subsequent scream of rage broke whatever train of thought they were having. Some things, like preventing the Quinta from attempting to decapitate the Sexta, took priority over figuring out the method of constructing an underground tunnel.

--

Kakuzu wished Konan was not serious. "A candy store?" He mumbled rhetorically. Has the man's name not been on the sign he would have thought Konan was making a joke, however it was written plain as day, Urahara Shoten. "The man we're looking for runs a candy store?"

Konan nodded. "The shop owner fits the description."

Kakuzu sighed. He respected any businessman, for they were in the business of money and money was respectable, however… what kind of resistance leader owned a candy store? _Well… never judge a book by its cover and all that I suppose._

Konan wasted not a moment longer and opened the door, sounding the jingle of a bell. Immediately the man across the room responded to their entry. "Welcome to the Urahara Shoten! I'm the proprietor Urahara-san! What can I do for you today?!" The man sounded exuberantly happy to have them as customers despite their otherworldly garb.

Then again… from what we've seen this man is far from normal himself. Kakuzu noted. "We're here to offer an exchange of services… does the name Aizen Sosuke mean anything?"

Urahara immediately scowled. "Depends… do you work for him?"

Kakuzu shook his head. "Far from it… I work for an organization that has recently come to find direct hostility with Aizen's little movement. We're looking for allies to form a united front against him."

Konan nodded. "Our leader sent us to look for you. From the information we obtained from a captured arrancar, we determined that Aizen considered you the mastermind behind the resistance against him."

Urahara mulled over that for a moment. "I see… perhaps we should move this conversation to the back room."

The shinobi had no objections.

--

Fights were snuffed out, and stories were told that shed some light on the newfound enemies of the Espada. "So he called it Genjutsu…" Ulquiorra mused out loud.

"I see… he makes it sound like a generally accessible technique anybody can use. That is a definite problem." Harribel added.

"Also, the fact that the Genjutsu user himself could not see you before was also telling." Ulquiorra continued. "We need to receive further orders from Aizen-sama. I will be returning to Hueco Mundo to give a full report. I want you to return as well Nnoitra."

Nnoitra, predictably, had an objection to that. "No way! I've still got a score to settle with that shark-bastard!"

Ulquiorra was not swayed in the slightest. "Your personal grudge will hinder the mission. Also, the information that those two work for an even more potent entity is troubling. I have a feeling that is where Szayel Aporro was taken. Harribel is to be in charge while we are gone. Your objective is to gather more information for when I return with further orders."

Nnoitra's lip twitched. "Don't ignore me!"

Ulquiorra turned his attention back to the Quinta and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then allow me to explain it, Nnoitra. The enemy you wish to face is a mysterious entity with two different types of energy. He has enough reiryoku alone to rival even our Primera in his released state, and yet you wish to face him as you are now, still injured from your last battle, and ignorant of his true abilities. It is impossible, further… our mission was to recover you and Szayel Aporro if possible. We must complete that objective as best we can."

Nnoitra hissed but relented. "Fine… we're leaving Lumina and Verona. If this place is as dangerous as you say, then these guys will need them. I don't know the details, but Szayel said something about them being modified to heal when eaten or something."

Tesla nodded. "They are provisions and medicine."

Ulquiorra nodded. "Then I will leave the situation to you, Harribel."

The Tres Espada nodded back. "Yes."

Ulquiorra snapped his fingers and a Garganta opened up next to him. "I was able to open this directly to Las Noches. I should be able to return just as easily. Please wait in the general area for me to return."

With that, Ulquiorra, Nnoitra, and Tesla stepped into the Garganta and vanished.

--

Urahara was unusually subdued. If what these people said was true, then a whole new front and entire world of factions just got added to the playing field. This was entirely unexpected. It did explain why Aizen had yet to make a move though. Thanks to that, the Vizards had been able to make contact with Ichigo and convince him to train with them with relatively little coaxing all things considered. Urahara was afraid the boy would wind up either becoming a Hollow or getting his ass handed to him by Arrancar a few times before he came around.

Certainly he would have to inform Soul Society. Even if he acted on his own, not letting them know about the situation would be treason in this case… not that they could do anything to him, but he had just been absolved so he'd like to keep his good name at least. "Alright, Konan-san, Kakuzu-san… I will have to talk to my allies about this. You are free to stay the night here if you like."

Kakuzu shook his head. "That's not necessary. We have already established a shelter outside of town."

Urahara nodded. "I see." He then rose to his feet. "Very good then. Stop by tomorrow and I'll have something to tell you then."

The two Akatsuki rose and headed out of the room and then out of the shop. Kakuzu chuckled. "That went fairly well…"


End file.
